Our new Indie Games subforum is now open for business in G&T. Go and check it out, you might land a code for a free game. If you're developing an indie game and want to post about it, follow these directions. If you don't, he'll break your legs! Hahaha! Seriously though.

Our rules have been updated and given their own forum. Go and look at them! They are nice, and there may be new ones that you didn't know about! Hooray for rules! Hooray for The System! Hooray for Conforming!

ITT: We play Wizardry 8

Because I am incredibly bored, and I've been wanting to do something like this since I've first read things like this, I shall shamelessly rip off the various denizens of the SomethingAwful forums.

Now, Wizardry 8 is one of the very last games to be released by Sirtech, it's probably one of the last of it's kind released stateside; a party-based first person RPG. And indeed, it's a damned good one, easily equalling Bioware's offerings at the time.

Now, as for the series. Wizardry 6: Bane of the Cosmic Forge, and Wizardry 7: Crusaders of the Dark Savant, as well as this, are all continuations of the same storyline. Indeed, it's entirely possible to import a party from 6 into Wizardry 7, and then a party from Wizardry 7 into Wizardry 8. Doing so, often gives a completely different starting-point depending on what one's allegiances were in the previous game. Granted, about a dozen in the world were able to experience that as Wiz8 was released nearly a decade after Crusaders of the Dark Savant. The universe involved is a strange one, a mixture of sword and sorcery and PSHEW PSHEW SPACE LAZORS!

Now, for the purposes of this thread, I shall be gathering taking public suggestions on what characters to create. With guidelines, mind you. I want some semi-serious characters, I don't need to necessarily min-max the characters, but I'd prefer if I didn't end up with a hopelessly mismatched race/class combo.
Names, as well. Funny is fine, but names purely for a cheap laugh is off-limits. I shan't be creating a Faerie Valkyrie with the name "Fuckstick." Joke names for any Felpurr or Rawulf characters, however, are welcome.

Now, as I said, I shall be taking suggestions on characters. There are six slots for a beginning party, as well, there are two further slots that are used for recruitable NPC's. This of course means that, while party balance is very much suggested, it's not necessarily needed if we can fill a spot with an NPC.

Now, I shall need the following suggestions in this form.

FULL NAME:NICKNAME (8 chars max, I think)GENDER:RACE:CLASS:
As well, if you have a small suggestion, go a head. IE: What weapon to use, what magic to concentrate on, etc.

Now, granted, I haven't told you any of this. First the classes, let me show you them.

Fighter: Gee? I wonder what this is? Basically, your basic guy who hits stuff with other stuff, he gets a %25 bonus to his close combat skill.

Lord: Now, this guy is basically a priest/fighter hybrid. Apparently, due to the fact that he does the same thing as a Valkyrie without the neat abilities that go with it. He can, however, dispell undead pretty nicely. Apparently he gets a %25 bonus to dual-wielding.

Valkyrie: A priest/figher hybrid, but for the ladies only. They are quite good. They get the "cheat death" ability, which, basically, insta-heals them when they die (though they still go unconcious). They also get a bonus to Polearms.

Ranger: They use bows, quite obviously. They use bows really nicely, in that they have a small chance to insta-kill an enemy with a bow. They also get a bonus to... you guessed it. Bows. They also have a nice bonus in having the "Search" skill always on, as well as being able to use Alchemy later on. All in all, very useful.

Samurai: Now fodder for the otaku crowd, they are, actually, quite awesome in this game. On the lower end of the defensive scale unless you can find their class-specific armors, they, however, invest quite heavily in the ability to have a chance to insta-kill with their swords, on TOP of that, they also have a small chance to go into "lightning strike" mode, which, basically, turns one attack, into many. They also get access to wizardry later on and are unaffected by Fear spells.

Ninja: Basically, they specialize in critical hits. They don't do much as far as raw damage goes, but near everything they do has a small chance to instakill. They also eventually get alchemist spells, can use the thief skills, martial arts, and have a bonus to their critical strike skill.

Monk: Another one who likes the critical strikes. They specialize in martial arts, and have a good amount of resistances to both magic and damage. They also get psionic magic later on.

Rogue: Your basic thief, they specialize in lockpicking and whatnot. They also get to backstab bitches like it's no tomorrow. As well, they have a ridiculous ability to not get hit, doubly so when they unlock their special skills.

Gadgeteer: The new class for the game, basically, they are quite similar to the bard in that they use class-specific gadgets. They also get a bonus to the modern weapons skill. As a bonus, they can also take spare parts and merge them to create new gadgets.

Bard: Sorta like a rogue, but instead of being all stealthy, they play music. Sound interesting yet? No? The music comes from several class-specific items that produce different effects. Piercing Bagpipes? Creates a massive, damaging shockwave on a group of enemies. Poetic Lute? Puts everything to sleep. They kick ass.

Alchemist: A Sort of mage who specializes in potions. Useful in that they cannot be silenced as other casters can, and make potions when your party rests. They can also mix potions for a more potent effect, or to sell for tons of money.

Bishop: Basically, a hybrid of all the magic classes (Psion, Mage, Priest, Alchemist). They gain power really, really slow. However, if one has the patience for it, it pays off in the end.

Psionic: Pretty much a mage who specializes in mind-magic. They are incredibly useful in that they are immune to mind-affecting spells. Which can be useful if an enemy casts a spell that makes your entire party start dancing.

Mage: Your basic magic class. They have lots, and lots, and lots of nice damage spells.

Now, for races.

Humans: Your baseline, they have the most statpoints total, but they are all spread around so that they really don't excell in any one class.

Elves: They have a high intelligence and dexterity, but a low strength and vitality. Meaning that they have less hitpoints, and hit for less than other races. However, while they do their best as casters, they don't do half bad as melee or hybrid classes.

Dwarves: Dumb, and slow. But to make up for that, they are strong and really freaking hardy, being able to absorb extra damage. They make damned good fighters, and priests.

Gnomes: they are similar to Elves, in that they are slow, but have a higher vitality, meaning more hit-points.

Hobbitses: Weak and not particularly tough, they are, however, really freaking fast. Indeed, they make good uses of the rogue classes, and, of all things, Samurai.

Faeries: Now, before you laugh, know these things. They're small, weak, and frail, they can't wear normal armor. They, however, are damn near impossible to hit, they're ridiculously smart, and of all things, they make some of the most legendary ninjas ever.

Posts

Hobbit? I thought that was Tolkien's thing I didn't know it fell under generic fantasy races.

JJ on February 2007

Mr. Banballow was so badly maimed, he turned into a hideous monster, oozing and bleeding, snarling and growling like a beast---enraged and bent on revenge. He tracked down the kids responsible for the fire and killed them one by one----with a blowtorch. That wasn't enough for Banballow. He won't leave his inn or his memories, so there he waits....in ambush....

I still have not ever completed Wizardy 8. I've played through it fresh twice and each time I've gotten to the very end but for some reason I just stopped playing. Still, this is one of the best RPGs I have ever played. Love it to death.

I bought Wizardry 8 when it first came out. I think I must have played through the beginning dungeon 3 or 4 times but always lost interest after that. I think the disks are still around here somewhere...

A hobbit samurai is the most absurd thing. And why does he look like Willow?

JJ on February 2007

Mr. Banballow was so badly maimed, he turned into a hideous monster, oozing and bleeding, snarling and growling like a beast---enraged and bent on revenge. He tracked down the kids responsible for the fire and killed them one by one----with a blowtorch. That wasn't enough for Banballow. He won't leave his inn or his memories, so there he waits....in ambush....

A hobbit samurai is the most absurd thing. And why does he look like Willow?

I'd say faerie ninja rank higher on absurdity due to the fact that faerie ninja and ONLY faerie ninja get access to one of the most powerful weapons in the game . . . and it's a cane. So you wind up with a tiny faerie dressed in black pajamas walking around beating stuff to death with a pimp stick of death.

Outside of that one little bit of powergaming though, you can get as absurd or non-absurd with race/class combos as you want.

Oh, and thread needs some mention of joinable NPCs, or at least the robot monk.

Goddamn I love this game. Seriously, I install it every once in awhile and play through it, though I've never beaten it.

Also, I usually have a party consisting of:
Rawulf lord (I really like lords, I guess because I found them so hard to get in Wizardry 2), human or lizardman fighter, human or felpurr samurai, felpurr ninja named DIMWIT (for some reason), then usually an elf priest and two misc characters that changes from game to game. Bards, gadgeteers, psions, monks, mages, etc. Whatever happens to sound cool at the time. I think my gnome gadgeteer was one of my favorites though, he had the crazy voice set and the shit he'd say kept me laughing.

For instance, you could start out everyone as a ninja, and then run a single encounter with all your guys dodging until they had maxed dodge. And then you could switch them all to thieves and do the same with block.

And then you go about your ways with 6 dudes with 99 dodge and block.

edit: Also if anyone has a copy or knows where I can get a copy aside from amazon, let me know please.

Lots of people have made a Bishop and claim they can "solo the <insert crazy dungeon here>" at level 20, but in my opinion a Bishop is not worth it.

Go Priest + Mage, because then you can cast two strong spells per round to get an edge, plus the Priest can melee with a stun weapon (which is always nice) and have the Mage cast debilitation or AoE damage spells.

I've been playing the game for a while, and my party is:

-male Dracon Fighter, the breath weapon is not to be underestimated, plus an increase in the cranial department over the Lizardman helps combat abilities.

-male Felpurr Samurai, because they're quick to begin with.

-female Human Bard, female to wear the endurance necklace, and human to balance stats because a Bard can do anything well like sword/shield, dual wield, or ranged combat.

-male Mook Ranger, because Chewbacca can kick ass with a crossbow, apparently.

-female Rawulf Priest, insanely high piety, and a better chance to max out both INT and PIE than a dwarf.

-and a male Faerie Mage, mainly for the increased mana regen, which is very important with a mage especially, and armor is not a factor since he can't wear it anyways and probably won't be hit.

Also, I'm playing with Vi (female Human Valkyrie) and the RFS-81 or whatever (android Monk). Two more melee characters are always useful in most places, but later on melee becomes less of an issue, so them being NPCs is not bad.

I always stopped playing this game due to the frustration of 10,000 enemies in one group waylaying my party out in the open.

There was no way to defeat the gigantic groups of enemies that eventually stalked my party - and it took an hour just to try and fight through it.

It was my only gripe, but it was enough to make me stop playing this seemingly wonderful game.

The first part out of the monestary is the most difficult part of the game. Don't be above level 6 when you zone into the Arnika-Trynton road, or the enemy level will jump. Other than that, just hide behind rocks and stuff and sneak your way to Arnika. If you do get into combat, position yourself so that your rear (and if possible, flanks) are covered by walls. Once you get debilitating spells, you should be fine.

Oh, and if you do make a Bishop, don't pick any spells when you level up. Save them until level 20+ or else you can't get them all.

Lots of people have made a Bishop and claim they can "solo the <insert crazy dungeon here>" at level 20, but in my opinion a Bishop is not worth it.

Go Priest + Mage, because then you can cast two strong spells per round to get an edge, plus the Priest can melee with a stun weapon (which is always nice) and have the Mage cast debilitation or AoE damage spells.

My problem with mages was that eventually the enemies had such high magic resistance that damage spells weren't worth it and it was basically just buffs or taking a chance on an instakill spell.

If it weren't for the resistances, I would have loved to play around with a psionicist . . . I mean, they get a spell called cerebral hemorrhage . . .

Lots of people have made a Bishop and claim they can "solo the <insert crazy dungeon here>" at level 20, but in my opinion a Bishop is not worth it.

Go Priest + Mage, because then you can cast two strong spells per round to get an edge, plus the Priest can melee with a stun weapon (which is always nice) and have the Mage cast debilitation or AoE damage spells.

My problem with mages was that eventually the enemies had such high magic resistance that damage spells weren't worth it and it was basically just buffs or taking a chance on an instakill spell.

If it weren't for the resistances, I would have loved to play around with a psionicist . . . I mean, they get a spell called cerebral hemorrhage . . .

Lots of people have made a Bishop and claim they can "solo the <insert crazy dungeon here>" at level 20, but in my opinion a Bishop is not worth it.

Go Priest + Mage, because then you can cast two strong spells per round to get an edge, plus the Priest can melee with a stun weapon (which is always nice) and have the Mage cast debilitation or AoE damage spells.

My problem with mages was that eventually the enemies had such high magic resistance that damage spells weren't worth it and it was basically just buffs or taking a chance on an instakill spell.

If it weren't for the resistances, I would have loved to play around with a psionicist . . . I mean, they get a spell called cerebral hemorrhage . . .

You gotta be a power caster man!

Yeah, race to max out PIE/INT regardless of caster type for the special skills. My melee/hybrids max out STR/SPD and my ranged-users max out SPD/SEN.

Starts out in a generic fantasy rpg setting, then suddenly spaceships?

That began at the end of Wizardry 6.

Pretty much. Wiz 7 starts out with you on a Spaceship, and you meet a busty blonde woman on a jetbike, and Savant guards have pshew pshew lazor spears! Granted, a lot of the sci-fi elements are described rather than seen.

Use what I use. They are rocking. Might want to use a monk instead of a samurai if you're not using RPCs (to get into the psionic realm, because a samurai and a mage share the same magic). Also, monks simply own.

So you're just ideas for characters? Alright, I'll toss my current D&D character on the table. I'm having fun with him, and would love to see him struggle through another game.

Hamfast Arsebuckle: Halfling male, Fighter. Not simple by any stretch of the imagination, he appears to be of above-average intelligence for a halfling, well-read and charismatic. He is, however, dreadfully clumsy and suffers from legendary bad luck, leaving him struggling with most tasks more complicated than tying his shoelaces. Always quite chipper, despite this. Somewhat delusional regarding his ability as a fighter and his contributions to a party. Piss-poor Dexterity and Luck.

Only one real front line fighter until the monk gets decent, but with the Bard, Priest and Mage tossing buffs and ripping with massive status effect. The ranger will really be able to make a dent from the second line.

You get all the main casting professions as well.

im going to load up the demo and see what i can do with it. Full game is in the mail atm.

I've always wondered how a game where you had a ridiculous number of ninja for party members would play. They can be deadly in both melee and ranged and have some healing abilities. I imagine armor would be a problem though seeing as how they can't really use much and what they can use is kinda rare. Weapon-wise, you at least always have the option of using martial arts if you run out of swords, staves, and cane of corpus for the bunch.

Errr.. I may have not put this in the OP, but the intention was for people to suggest different characters. I choose the most amusing/doable characters and post logs of their adventures much like Nocren's JA2 thread.

Errr.. I may have not put this in the OP, but the intention was for people to suggest different characters. I choose the most amusing/doable characters and post logs of their adventures much like Nocren's JA2 thread.

Mr. Banballow was so badly maimed, he turned into a hideous monster, oozing and bleeding, snarling and growling like a beast---enraged and bent on revenge. He tracked down the kids responsible for the fire and killed them one by one----with a blowtorch. That wasn't enough for Banballow. He won't leave his inn or his memories, so there he waits....in ambush....